Once upon a time, we had some fun with Syracuse’s Mount Rushmore (as we did with all the school Mount Rushmores). The final Syracuse Mount Rushmore: Jim Boeheim, Jim Brown, Ben Schwartzwalder, and Ernie Davis. You can go there to read the reasons why those four were chosen. But if Syracuse was to create a “most-hated” Mount Rushmore, who would be on it?
This author has been following basketball since well before Al Gore’s Internet became mainstream. Well before. Before cable TV even. In fact, his first real memories of basketball just so happen to coincide with Jim Boeheim’s first season as coach. Having watched 35+ seasons of Syracuse basketball, this author is nowhere near convinced that the current edition of Syracuse basketball is made of players that should be 25-0 at this point. Nah, this team is a team that should be a 22 or 23 win team right now… good enough to be a national title contender, but flawed enough to be vulnerable just about every night. The sum of its parts, however, is that it is the first of those teams to go 25-0. And it deserves to be 25-0. Here is why.
The game time has moved from 3pm to 7pm for weather-related reasons. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=400502855
Note this for your TV viewing pleasure (or lack thereof). For television options, check here: http://www.theacc.com/#!/GameCenter/52685b9be4b0f86829b3c7f1
Between the Mike and Mike Show and the coaches running the no-huddle systems taking the airwaves, there is ample criticism of a new rule being considered in college football. Specifically, the NCAA rules committee has recommended a rule change that will allow defensive units to substitute within the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock, excluding the final two minutes of each half, by precluding the offense from running a play during that period. The talking heads and coaches impacted hate the rule. The Confidential says “not so fast.” Let’s think this through before making a knee-jerk reaction to a knee-jerk rule.
Syracuse has had many good freshman players. Pearl Washington helped convert Syracuse from a regional power into a national power. Derrick Coleman took Syracuse to the Championship Game. Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara won a national title. Make way Syracuse fans… Tyler Ennis is in that elite company now. In fact, the ACC should be taking notice.
What do YOU think about the future football scheduling for the ACC? Give us your opinion.
Click through for explanations of the poll options.
Frank the Tank has an article discussing the Big 10’s scheduling options moving forward–especially if the ACC’s move to allow conference autonomy to determine a champion succeeds. At the same time, ESPN is reporting that the ACC and SEC have had discussions about a scheduling concept of some sort, which would feature even more SEC v ACC games. All of this got the Confidential thinking about scheduling options. Here is an idea:
Congratulations to the Syracuse Orange for being the first school since 2010-2011 (conference-mate Duke) to be a unanimous #1. Equally impressive is rebounding from an emotional and hard-fought win over Duke to beat a desperate Notre Dame team last night to improve to 22-0. Trevor Conney led the way with 33 points for the Orange. Every game, someone else steps up for Syracuse.
It was the only action in the ACC last night.
Looking forward, there are possible bumps in the road for Syracuse:
Actually, Syracuse’s schedule is heavily weighted towards road games at the end… four of the final five.
What do you think? Will Syracuse lose again during the regular season? If so, when?
Here are the meaningful games in the Atlantic Coast Conference today (January 28, 2014):
Men’s Basketball:
Virginia (15-5, 6-1) @ Notre Dame (11-9, 2-5). 9:00 pm.
Notes: The Fighting Irish are finding the ACC to be a much more difficult road than the Big East. Virginia has taken off in conference play. Those two concepts are hard to reconcile. The reality is that Virginia was supposed to be this good. Defeating Notre Dame would get them that much closer to national relevance.
The Confidential 